Garment cover



Sept. 27, 1966 V c. w. NEELY 3,275,128

GARMENT COVER Filed June 5, 1965 NAME ADDRESS {2 United States Patent Office 3,275,128 Patented Sept. 27, 1966 of Iowa Filed June 3, 1965, Ser. No. 461,110 3 6-7) Claims. (Cl. 20

Garment covers of plastic or paper material and suitable for enclosing a hanger-mounted garment have long been in use. One of the problems of the existing garment covers is that there is no convenient means of identification of the garment cover or of the garment contained therein. This problem is to some degree complicated by the fact that most garment covers are made of opaque or translucent material whereby the owner of the garment cannot visually observe the garment within the cover, so this visual identification of the garment cannot be made. Of course, there is still a need to identify the garment cover even when it is empty, and this is a problem to which existing garment covers provide no solution.

Therefore, it is a principal object of this invention to provide a garment cover which provides a convenient means of identification'for both the cover and any garment contained thereinr A further object of this invention is to provide a garment cover which permits the owner of the garment to visually identify the precise garment contained in the cover even thoughhe may know that the cover does contain one of his garments.

More specifically, it is an object of this invention to provide a garment cover with a small transparent panel with a pocket portion secured thereto and of a size smaller than the transparent panel whereby an identification card can be placed in the pocket portion which permits the owner of the cover to identify it as his through the identification card and which permits the owner to visually olbserve through the transparent panel any garment within the cover.

It is a further object of this invention to provide a garment cover having a pocket for an identification card wherein the identification card is easily inserted in the pocket and the card is protected from inadvertent removal from the pocket.

It is a further object of this invention to provide a garment cover having a pocket portion used in conjunction with a transparent panel whereby the pocket portion is also of transparent material so that the pocket portion will not detract from the appearance of the cover even if an identification card is not'contained therein.

A still further object of this invention is to provide a garment cover that is economical of manufacture, durable of use, and refined in appearance.

These and other objects will be apparent to those skilled in the art.

This invention consists in the construction, arrangements, and combination, of the various parts of the device, whereby the objects contemplated are attained as hereinafter more fully set forth, specifically pointed out in the claims, and illustrated in the accompanying draw ing, in which:

FIGURE 1 is a front elevational view of the device of this invention;

FIGURE 2 is an enlarged scale fragmentary frontal elevation of the transparent closure means shown in the garment cover of FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 3 is a patiral sectional view of the transparent closure means and pocket portion as taken on line 36 of FIGURE 2;

FIGURE 4 is a partial sectional view of the transparent closure means and pocket portion as viewed on lines 44 of FIGURE 2; and

. FIGURE 5 is a partial frontal elevation of an alternate form of the invention showing the transparent closure means and pocket portion located at a position dilferent from the position of these components shown in FIG- URE 1. v

The numeral 10 generally designates a garment cover having a rearward panel 12 (FIGURE 4) and a forward panel 14 comprised of two panel portions 14A and 14B. An edging material 15 extends around the peripheral edges of the rearward and forward panels and the edges thereof are stitched by a conventional industrial sewing machine or the like. As shown in FIGURE 1, the adjacent edges of panel portions 14A and 14B form a line extending from the top center of the panel 14 diagonally downwardly towards the left hand corner of panel 14. These adjacent edges of panel portions 14A and 14B are detaehably secured together by slide fastener 16. An opening 18 appears at the top of the slide fastener to permit the neck of a conventional clothes hanger 20 to extend therethrough. The function of the hanger 20 is to support a garment thereon and to also support the garment cover 10 which is disposed over the garment. The forward and rearward panels 14 and 12, respectively, form a compartment 21 therebetwecn which is suitable for receiving a garment such as a suit, coat, dress, or the like.

A rectangular opening 22 is cut on one of the upper side edges of panel portion 14A as shown in FIGURES 1, 2 and 4, and a transparent closure panel 24 is positioned over the opening 22. The material of the forward and rearward panels is preferably of plastic, and the material of closure panel 24 is also preferably of plastic so that the top, bottom and inner side edge of the closure panel 24 can be heat sealed to the panel portion 14A around the opening 22.

A pocket panel 26 of transparent plastic material is of a size smaller than the transparent closure panel 24. Pocket panel 26 has its bottom and two side edges heat sealed to the bottom portion of the closure panel 24 to form a pocket 27 on the inner side of the closure panel 24. The outer side edges of the pocket panel 26 and the closure panel 24 are stitched directly to the edging material 15 and the side edge of the rearward panel 12.

The normal operation of the device of this invention is as follows: An identification card 28 can be inserted into pocket 27 by opening the slide fastener 16 and inserting the card downwardly into the open upper end of the pocket. Since the pocket panel 26 and the card enclosed in the pocket 27 extend only over the bottom portion of the closure panel 24, the owner of the garment cover 10 can always visually observe whether or not a garment is in the compartment 21, and if so, can visually olbserve precisely what that garment happens to be. This visual observation is made through the upper portion of the transparent closure panel 24 which will always expose a portion of a garment 30 contained within the compartment 21; Since the pocket panel 26 is of transparent material, the existence of the pocket 27 will be substantially disguised in the event that the owner of the garment cover chooses to utilize the cover without an identification card 28. In any event, the pocket 27 and the pocket panel 26 will not detract from the appearance of the garment cover in the event that no identification card 28 is used.

An alternate transparent closure panel 24A is illustrated in the shoulder portion of the garment cover 10A in FIGURE 5 of the drawings, but except for the location and shape of the closure panel 24A, the details of the structure in FIGURE 5 are identical to the structure of FIGURE 1 except that the panel 24A is located at a different position in the panel 14A.

Therefore, it is seen that this invention will accomplish at least-all of its stated objectives.

Some changes may be made in the construction and arrangement of my garment cover without departing from the real spirit and purpose of my invention, and it is my intention to cover by my claims, any modified forms of structure or use of mechanical equivalents which may be reasonably included within their scope.

I claim:

1. 'In a garment cover,

an envelope container having forward and rearward panels forming a compartment therebetween suitable for housing a garment, V y said forward and rearward panels being comprised of an opaque material and each having inside and outside surfaces, an access opening in said envelope container suitable for inserting or removing a garment into or'out of,

respectively, said compartment, an opening in at least one of said panels,

a transparent closure means in said compartment secured to the inside surface of said one panel and closing said opening, said closure means having inside and outside surfaces,

and a pocket means superimposed on said closure means at the inside surface thereof, said pocket means cooperating with said transparent closure means to form a pocket there'between,

said pocket having an access opening positioned inside said compartment, 7

said pocket means being smaller in ,area than said closure means,

7 said pocket means being positioned on said closure means in the area of said opening in said one panel to leave a portion of said closure means uncovered,

4., 7 said uncovered area of said closure means extending only from the top edge of said pocket means to the top edge of said opening in said one panel, the access opening into: said pocket being between the top edge of said pocket means and the inside surface of said closure means;

2. The device of claim '1 wherein said forward and rearward panels are stitched together attheir peripheral edges, and said closure means and said pocket means are positioned adjacent one edge of one ofsaid panels, whereupon at least one edge of said closure means. and said pocket means are stitched together with said panels.

3. The device of'claim 41 wherein said pocketmeans isa pocket panel having bottom, top and side edges, said 7 side and bottom edges only secured to the lower portion of said closure means-and said access opening being formed between said top edge ofsaid pocket; panel and thead-jacent side of said closure means.

References Cited by the Examiner 2 THERONE. CONDON,Primary Examiner.

J. M. CASKIE, Assistant Examiner. 

1. IN A GARMENT COVER, AN ENVELOPE CONTAINER HAVING FORWARD AND REARWARD PANELS FORMING A COMPARTMENT THEREBETWEEN SUITABLE FOR HOUSING A GARMENT, SAID FORWARD AND A REARWARD PANELS BEING COMPRISED OF AND OPAQUE MATERIAL AND EACH HAVING INSIDE AND OUTSIDE SURFACES, AN ACCESS OPENING IN SAID ENVELOPE CONTAINER SUITABLE FOR INSERTING OR REMOVING A GARMENT INTO OR OUT OF, REPECTIVELY, SAID COMPARTMENT, AN OPENING IN AT LEAST ONE OF SAID PANELS, A TRANSPARENT CLOSURE MEANS IN SAID COMPARTMENT SECURED TO THE INSIDE SURFACE OF SAID ONE PANEL AND CLOSING SAID OPENING, SAID CLOSURE MEANS HAVING INSIDE AND OUTSIDE SURFACES, AND A POCKET MEANS SUPERIMPOSED ON SAID CLOSURE MEANS AT THE INSIDE SURFACE THEREOF, SAID POCKET MEANS COOPERATING WITH SAID TRANSPARENT CLOSURE MEANS TO FORM A POCKET THEREBETWEEN, SAID POCKET HAVING AN ACCESS OPENING POSITIONED INSIDE SAID COMPARTMENT, SAID POCKET MEANS BEING SMALLER IN AREA THAN SAID CLOSURE MEANS, 